What to Consider When Comparing Group Coaching Platforms

Are you overwhelmed by deciding between group coaching platforms for your business? Break down how to identify the right one for you and how Coaching Genie can support you.

How do you structure a group coaching program?

A group coaching program consists of multiple components, depending on your:

• coaching modality
• personality
• lifestyle
• business model
• experience

Typically, a group coaching program will contain some type of training in the form of modules or videos, implementation activities or exercises for clients to do between calls, and weekly group coaching calls. Some programs contain multiple calls each week. Group coaching calls may feature breakout sessions where participants are partnered to practice skills and give feedback to one another.

When choosing amongst the many group coaching platforms, Consider how to add accountability. Typically, it’s done through accountability partnerships. Partners can be assigned or clients may self-select partners. To increase engagement and implementation, you might include prizes. In Coaching Genie, I use the weekly check-in feature to encourage participation and enter clients into a contest to win a private coaching session with me.

 

How do you facilitate group coaching?

There are two styles of group coaching session facilitation.

One style is where you are the guru and coach. People come to your sessions because they want to learn from you and be coached by you. Basically, they join because of you.

In the other style of coaching, the coach serves as the facilitator. Greater emphasis is placed on the group itself. The coach facilitates connections and masterminding by simply guiding the group to stay on track.

I prefer a combination of these two. Often, people join my group programs because of me. Once they get into the group and realize the amazing people that also joined my programs, they want feedback from everybody in the virtual room, so to speak.

[bctt tweet=”Coaching Genie’s ability to connect members between coaching calls is very powerful.”]

That’s where that group coaching truly happens because people can share their insights, thoughts, and work right inside Coaching Genie. Participants can see what everyone else is working on and comment on each other’s progress.

 

What are the best online coaching platforms?

The best online coaching platforms are the ones that, at minimum, help you:

• manage your clients and your content
• stay organized
• oversee increasing moving pieces as your business grows
• allow you to just “show up and coach”!

Coaching Genie’s mission is to simplify the technology experience so you can just show up and coach. Learning management platforms like Teachable, Kajabi, and Simplero allow you to deliver content, build and sell courses, create membership sites, or create learning experiences. There are also practice management platforms that allow you to run your coaching business. But specifically delivering coaching to clients is something that needs to be automated and simplified as much as possible so your coaching programs can be streamlined so you can just show up and coach.

 

How much do group coaches charge?

Pricing depends on group size, program length, and niche. Small groups typically charge more. Short duration programs usually cost less than year long programs. If you’re in a business or money-making niche (e.g. an executive coach), you’ll likely charge more than if you are in a life coaching area.

I created a coaching calculator that can determine the ideal numbers to charge at coachingcalc.com by answering a few questions about your group, rates, group size, and frequency of meetings.

 

What should I consider when evaluating online coaching software or a coaching program management software to run my online coaching business?

There are 5 things you need to grow your coaching business without feeling overwhelmed:

• Automate: automate day-to-day actions, manual, repetitive, or time-consuming tasks; eliminate time-wasters
• Customize: customize content to meet clients where they are; support individual clients’ needs when working with multiple clients
• Streamline: streamline communication to save time and headaches; reduce the steps required to deliver coaching ; increase efficiency; simplify technology
• Repurpose: leverage previously created content and coaching toolbox material to bundle into programs; easily share with clients as needed; deliver in different formats: 1-on-1, group coaching, digital course, membership
• Grow with your business: so serving more clients doesn’t require much more time and you’re ready to handle 10 clients as well as 100+ clients

 

How can I make it less time consuming to run a coaching practice online?

Focus on simplicity. Use only the tools you absolutely need. The reality is you can run your coaching business on email alone. When your business grows and the tools used no longer allow you to stay organized and communicate effectively, that’s when you start looking for a tool.

Before creating Coaching Genie, I “Frankensteined” my coaching business between several group coaching platforms; Dropbox, Google Drive, spreadsheets, YouTube, and all kinds of different tools. Coaching Genie allowed me to bring everything together in a single, simple solution.

Evaluate repetitive and time-consuming tasks in your business, such as intake forms, sending content, collecting homework, or providing feedback. Automate those processes. This is exactly why I created Coaching Genie – to help me automate all of those manual and time-consuming tasks that I no longer have to worry about because it’s set up once and it’s done.

 

What are the common pain points of using Facebook groups to deliver coaching sessions or an entire online coaching program?

Social media is inherently distracting by design. There are many things grabbing at our attention. Also, every platform changes features and controls regularly which can confuse users and make content delivery challenging. Additionally, many people don’t use Facebook or other social platforms. That’s why coaches like using Coaching Genie – clients can participate in the community without having to engage in social media.

 

Are there group coaching platforms that give a free trial and allow coaching clients to track progress in real time?

Even with a free trial, it can be hard to experience everything the software is capable of. I highly recommend taking advantage of not both any free trial AND free demo available to you. In addition to a free 14 day trial, Coaching Genie’s free demo unlocks all the possibilities you may not be aware of when you simply do a trial because you need to create your program and add content.